They came from three different continents, trekking with English truffles stuffed in their suitcases, pounds of ice cream stowed in a plane's belly and tubs of poached eggs soaking in highway-friendly water baths.

The chef-alums of the FORBES 30 Under 30 may have traveled to the third annual Under 30 Summit -- this year, in Boston, Massachusetts -- to partake in what was called a "food festival," but they did not come to Beantown to play.

For the third year in a row, the Under 30 Food Festival served as an opportunity for the alumni of the 30 Under 30 in food and drink to square off against each other and see who could win the crowd and judges' hearts. This year's contest was expanded to include entrants from the Europe and Asia 30 Under 30 lists, and included a savory category and sweets category. All dishes were judged by Lee Schrager, founder of the South Beach Food and Wine Festival; Randall Lane, editor of FORBES magazine; and Chrissy Teigen, super model, best-selling cookbook author and culinary personality. Chef Chris Coombs, a 3o Under 30 alum who helped organize the event, was also on-hand for judging and taste-testing.

The dishes presented by the competing chefs were as diverse as the cooks themselves. Noma's Toni Toivanen made a lobster brains and lobster tail tart; John Lasater, of Nashville's Hattie B's Hot Chicken, brought his signature hot chicken; and Yasuhiro Fujio, chef at Osaka's La Cime, created an eel kabayaki and black rice puff.

Some contestants tried to bridge two worlds with dish. Henry Herbert, of the U.K.'s Hobbs House bakery, put forth a beef-and-truffle sourdough doughnut, in part because his shop is known for its sourdough and in part because of which side of the pond he was cooking for. "Americans love doughnuts so I said, 'let's do doughnuts!'" he explained, noting that he and a friend foraged the truffles themselves just this week.

On the sweets side, the competition was just as fierce. Bon Bon Bon's Alexandra Clark brought something she normally only serves in her stores, which are in Detroit: the Hot Mess. "We like to think of it as a curative remedy for when you're feeling like a hot mess," she explained. "It's milk chocolate that we pipe into a dark chocolate shell, and then we serve it with a pop of ice cold milk." Pooja Dhingra, from Le15 Patisserie in Mumbai, presented a chai macaron which she topped with lemongrass foam, and Salt and Straw's Tyler Malek made a splash with a Ritz cracker mock apple pie topped with toasted walnut ice cream and sprinkles of parmesan.

Judges and attendees alike admitted that it was hard to choose one standout.

"I think the truffle beef doughnut was the most eclectic, most unique," Hoby Wedler, 30 Under 30 alum (class of 2016) said. But Wedler also had good things to say about John Lasater's hot chicken ( it was "quite stunning") and Jonah Miller's slow-poached egg and chickpea dish ("the sous-vide gives it a uniform texture that's really cool").

"You know everyone's usually bullshitting like, 'they were ALL great,'" Teigen said. "But seriously, every single bite we had was so, so delicious. This was not easy."

Added Schrager: "Just like Chrissy said, we really debated back and forth. In the end, we were so torn."

Ultimately, the judges and crowd alike were able to choose their winners. Herbert's truffle doughnut won the judge's choice award for the savory category, while a beef short rib arepa from Kelvin Fernandez won the crowd's choice award for the savory category. Malek's mock-apple-pie a la mode won him the judges choice award in the sweets category, while Clark's "Hot Mess" won her the crowd's choice award.

For Fernandez, winning the people's choice award was as rewarding as it was to have successfully cooked in the Massachusetts State House (the competition venue), a building that was completed in 1798 and wasn't exactly conceived to house 21st century chefs.

"It's always tricky with buildings like this. We feel like we're on Top Chef!" Fernandez said. And just as success on television culinary competitions is addicting, so too is winning the respect of the FORBES Under 30 crowd.